Other Communities Were Sold the Same Dream. Here Is What Happened Next.

McCracken County is not the first place to be told that industrial development is the answer to its economic prayers. It will not be the last. But right now, we have something that communities in Virginia, Michigan, and Georgia did not have when they signed on the dotted line: the benefit of their experience.

And their experience is not good.

The Promises Come First

The script is always the same. A company arrives, sometimes through an LLC so you cannot easily identify who you are actually dealing with. Officials are quietly brought into the conversation. NDAs are signed before the public hears a word. Then comes the announcement: jobs, investment, economic development, a new chapter for your community.

It sounds good. It is designed to sound good.

Then Reality Sets In

A Harvard Gazette interview published in April 2026 asked University of Michigan researcher and Harvard Berkman Klein Center faculty associate Ben Green whether community concerns about data centers are legitimate. His answer was unambiguous: "The public is concerned about rising electricity rates caused by data centers. They are concerned about the enormous water use that data centers require. They're concerned about public handouts in the form of tax breaks that are going to data center developers, and they're also aware that data centers don't bring the jobs they promise."

That last point is worth repeating. The jobs promise is the hook that makes these deals sellable to elected officials and local residents. And it is, according to researchers who have studied what actually happened after communities said yes, largely a fiction.

The Michigan Story Is the One McCracken County Needs to Read

In 2015, Nevada-based data center company Switch promised Michigan officials it would create 1,000 jobs in exchange for state and local tax breaks. By the 2022 deadline, it had created 26. The jobs it did create averaged less than $38,000 a year.

Rather than penalizing Switch for its failure, Michigan's Economic Development Corporation quietly retooled the deal, loosening the definition of what qualifies as a "full-time job" so Switch could keep saving an estimated $1 million per year in tax breaks. The state had no mechanism to recover a single dollar.

Despite this documented track record, Michigan enacted new and expanded data center tax exemptions in 2024. Within months, communities across the state organized in opposition. At least 19 local governments proposed or approved moratoriums. Planning commission meetings drew hundreds of people. Lawmakers who voted for the original bill began co-sponsoring legislation to repeal it entirely.

The Michigan League of Conservation Voters was direct: "Our lawmakers locked in sweetheart deals with Big Tech without requiring companies to disclose electricity consumption. That means Michigan communities will face rising energy bills, new water shortages, and increased stress on our rivers and lakes unless something changes."

Georgia Tried to Pump the Brakes. The Governor Said No.

Georgia's state legislature, watching its own energy grid strain under exploding data center demand, passed a bill in 2024 to pause its data center tax incentive program for two years and commission an independent study of the impacts. It passed both chambers with bipartisan support.

Governor Brian Kemp vetoed it. He did so, he said, to protect the business community. The state's largest utility, Georgia Power, was already planning to lean on fossil fuel sources to make up the energy shortfall partially caused by data centers. Environmental groups called the veto "beyond disappointing."

Virginia: The Warning That Keeps Getting Louder

Virginia is the largest data center market in the world. It got there through decades of generous tax incentives, fast-tracked approvals, and lax zoning. In fiscal year 2025 alone, more than $1.6 billion in tax exemptions went to data centers in Virginia. That revenue did not go to schools. It did not go to roads. It went to some of the most profitable corporations in the world.

Now residents are paying for it in rising electricity bills, strained water systems, and a grid pushed to its limits. In Virginia's 2025 legislative session, lawmakers introduced roughly two dozen data center regulation bills. Only seven survived. In the 2026 session, the number of bills attempting to address the industry climbed to more than 60. Virginia Dogwood reported that these facilities continue to create few permanent jobs while residents absorb skyrocketing energy costs and infrastructure burdens passed directly to ratepayers.

Across the Country, People Are Waking Up

As of April 2026, bills in 28 states are seeking to scale back or modify existing data center incentive programs, according to Broadband Breakfast's analysis of a National Conference of State Legislatures report. At least nine states have already considered outright repeal this year.

These are not fringe activists. These are state legislators, conservation organizations, university researchers, and utility ratepayers who looked at what the deals actually delivered and said: not again.

What Makes Paducah Different? Only the Stakes Are Higher.

Every community that has been burned by a data center deal at least started from a clean baseline. McCracken County is being asked to welcome this industry on top of one of the most contaminated Superfund sites in the country, with an active cleanup the Department of Energy does not expect to complete until 2065, beside the Ohio River, which supplies drinking water to communities throughout the region.

We are not opposed to economic development. We are opposed to being told, by people who will not put the terms in writing for the public to read, that this deal is good for us, while the evidence from every corner of the country says otherwise.

Get informed. Get involved. Visit www.protectmccrackencounty.com.

Sources: Verify It Yourself:

1. Harvard Gazette, "Why are communities pushing back against data centers?" (April 9, 2026) https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2026/04/why-are-communities-pushing-back-against-data-centers

2. Bridge Michigan, "Data centers create few jobs. Michigan wants to give them big tax breaks" (June 2024, updated May 2025) https://bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/data-centers-create-few-jobs-michigan-wants-give-them-big-tax-breaks/

3. Michigan Capitol Confidential, "Legislature extends tax breaks for data center that brought only 2.6% of promised jobs" (November 2024) https://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/news/legislature-extends-tax-breaks-for-data-center-that-brought-only-2-6-of-promised-jobs

4. Michigan League of Conservation Voters, "Data centers are draining our pocketbooks, water, and Michigan's future" (September 2025) https://www.michiganlcv.org/data-centers-are-draining-our-pocketbooks-water-and-michigans-future/

5. American Economic Liberties Project / Economic Populist, "The Fight Over Data Centers is Heating Up — in Michigan and the United States" (February 2026) https://economicpopulist.substack.com/p/the-fight-over-data-centers-is-heating

6. Georgia Recorder, "Governor vetoes pausing data center tax breaks" (May 8, 2024) https://georgiarecorder.com/2024/05/08/governor-vetoes-tax-breaks-for-data-centers-homestead-exemption-increase-and-higher-ed-assistance/

7. Virginia Dogwood, "Opinion: Virginia communities pay the price for data centers with little benefit" (February 2, 2026) https://vadogwood.com/opinion/opinion-communities-pay-for-data-centers/

8. VPM News / Cardinal News, "New governor could see new versions of old bills seeking to regulate the data center industry" (February 2026) https://cardinalnews.org/2026/02/03/new-governor-could-see-new-versions-of-old-bills-seeking-to-regulate-the-data-center-industry/

9. Data Center Dynamics, "More than 60 data center-related bills to be considered by Virginia's legislature this year" (March 2026) https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/more-than-60-data-center-related-bills-to-be-considered-by-virginias-legislature-this-year/

10. Broadband Breakfast, "States Reconsider Data Center Tax Incentives" (April 20, 2026) https://broadbandbreakfast.com/states-reconsider-data-center-tax-incentives/

11. Grist, "Data centers are facing an image problem. The tech industry is spending millions to rebrand them." (January 26, 2026) https://grist.org/energy/data-centers-are-facing-an-image-problem-the-tech-industry-is-spending-millions-to-rebrand-them/

12. U.S. Department of Energy, Paducah Cleanup Progress (updated April 23, 2026) https://www.energy.gov/pppo/paducah-cleanup-progress